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My dear teachers,

As an Indian citizen, I am deeply concerned with the quality of teaching in our country. At the same time, I am filled with hope when I see so many of you here successfully completing Wipro’s teacher programme. By doing so, you have taken a significant step in your professional development as a teacher.

I am reminded of my days at school. And I am reminded of one teacher who made a strong impression on my young mind. Today, I am going to talk about that one teacher; and what made him stand out from all the other teachers in my school.

The first thing I remember about him was his smile. I do not ever remember seeing a frown on his face. I do not remember any of my classmates being scared or unhappy in his class. And we all loved him so much that we listened to him more than we listened to any other teacher! Where every other teacher would threaten us or coerce us to maintain discipline or to keep silent, all he had to do was to request us. And we loved to abide by his requests.

The second thing I remember about him was how important he made me feel. If you walked up to him, he would stop whatever he was doing and give his complete attention to you. He would listen with complete empathy – you felt that he really understood you. And he would never judge you; he would not hold anything against you. All of us used to really clamour for his attention. The staffroom used to be a very scary place for us children. Yet even there, you would always find a bunch of children hanging around him talking excitedly about something or the other. We just enjoyed being with him!

But the most important thing I remember about him was that he was my friend. He was the person we hugged when we were happy. He was the person we went to when we were sad. He would always have a nice word for every child. I remember that in his class, he used to be concerned even if one child in the class found it difficult to learn something. He knew each one us… he knew what we liked, what we did not like, how we liked to learn, how we did not like to learn. I think he knew everything about each one of us!

Of course, there are many more things I could tell you about him. I could tell you how he made every subject seem magical. I could tell you how he used to grab our interest through puzzling questions. I could talk about how he made us see the same issue from so many different angles. I could tell you that the most important thing he taught us was to learn how to question.

By now, you would have realised that I can go on and on about him. So let me stop here, and offer two key ideas which I think you will find valuable.

One, make your classroom a friendly place. Learning is an act of creative tension. At school, the child is struggling to understand a complex world. For instance, you might know that if I drop a pencil and a book, they will fall at the same speed. But for a child, this goes against all her intuition! And to take that leap – from her current understanding to new understanding – is an act that requires great courage. Which is why most of us stop learning as adults... because we no longer have the courage to take fundamental risk. Therefore, it is critical that our classrooms are friendly places; where the atmosphere encourages every child to think, to question, and to do.

Two, please treat your student as your equal. Children are brilliant. They have a way of looking at the world which is wonderful. They can teach us many things about how we should live our lives. The teacher and the child have lots to learn from each other. This is a relationship of two equals coming together for a common purpose – each other’s growth. Therefore, we have no right to punish the child, no right to judge the child, and no right to treat her as someone weaker than us. I am making this strong plea… please treat your children as your equal, and see the wonders it will do to your class.

My dear teachers, our nation has entrusted its future in your hands. I am certain you will do us proud. My congratulations to you once again.

Azim Premji